IOC Seeks Withdrawal of International Boxing Federation

At a dramatic unscheduled meeting, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board has recommended that the full IOC membership withdraw recognition of the International Boxing Association, the latest in a years-long dispute between the two sports bodies.

An IOC statement released Wednesday said the IBA has “failed to fulfill the conditions set by the IOC” for lifting the IBA’s previous suspension of recognition. Boxing will remain in the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris and will be organized by the IOC instead of an international federation, which was the case at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

The executive board was scheduled to meet later this month before calling the emergency virtual meeting after the IBA’s 400-page report was published Tuesday, which says “the IBA strongly believes that it meets all necessary criteria to be a part of the Olympic movement.” The report also made clear some of the IBA’s true feelings, saying it offered to talk with the IOC and “all these requests have been disrespectfully ignored,” and “withdrawal of the IBA’s full recognition by the IOC will be not justified, fair and legally correct decision.”

Instead, the IOC said there will be an “Extraordinary IOC Session to be held remotely” on June 22 to take a final decision on the executive board’s recommendation. The IOC stripped the IBA of recognition in 2019 over long-standing financial, sports integrity and governance issues with Wednesday’s announcement seen as the start of a final break between the two organizations.

The IBA-IOC fight has been heightened over the recent formation of World Boxing, which says it will seek recognition from the IOC. A collection of boxing leaders from across the world announced the creation of World Boxing in early April to ensure that boxing remains a part of future Olympic Summer Games and is the formal breakaway for many international federations from the IBA.

USA Boxing ended its membership with the IBA in late April to join World Boxing, the first national governing body to do so; since USA Boxing’s announcement, SwissBoxing has left the IBA for World Boxing with the national governing bodies in both the Netherlands and New Zealand exploring a move.

The IBA is run by Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russia President Vladimir Putin; since Kremlev’s reign began in 2017, the IBA has essentially been bankrolled by Russian interests, although Kremlev said earlier this year the IBA no longer has Russian energy giant Gazprom as a sponsor.

The IBA allowed boxers from Russia and Belarus to compete with their national flags and anthems during its world championships earlier this year — which the IBA claimed were the qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics. During the world championships, Kremlev spent close to two hours both signaling a willingness to work with the IOC while adding “I’m sure (the IOC) don’t like me” because he refused to perform a vulgar act not useful to this website to describe.

Kremlev also attacked the organizers of World Boxing, calling them “like hyenas, like predators, they need to understand that they do not belong to sport.”

Boxing has been on the Olympic program since 1920 but the IOC has indicated that boxing could lose its position at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Boxing would learn its fate for LA28 during the IOC session in Mumbai, which starts October 15, at which time the LA28 program would be officially approved.